Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Two issues arose during other members' questions, one of which related to physical activity and school buildings. We had a debate on this and I also had a debate with the school buildings unit. I take every opportunity to discuss this. The Department needs to have a rethink of how it approaches this. As far as I can see, although it is not nailed down in black and white, the position of the Department is that for older school buildings that do not have a hall, unless they are building a completely new school building, they will have to wait until the summer for a large-scale fabric upgrade of the entire building. This seems to relate to the 10% of schools that either do not have a school hall or have only limited access to one. Coláiste Daibhéad, which I have mentioned in the past, is a DEIS school of between 220 and 240 students in Cork city centre. The students have to get a bus to travel to PE. Similarly, Coláiste Éamann Rís, or Deerpark CBS as it used to be known, also a DEIS school, is quickly expanding and comprises 700 students. The building was built in the late 1960s and early 1970s and does not have a sports hall. These secondary schools want to be in a position to offer PE as an exam subject and to be able to offer PE to students even if it is raining. I urge the Minister to reconsider this area, although I am not expecting a response on it now. I accept we have to be mindful of climate change and so on, but perhaps those schools that need school halls could be considered a priority for fabric upgrade and retrofitting.

My second point follows on what Deputy Ó Ríordáin asked about school transport. I have emailed the Minister, Bus Éireann and the school transport section within the Department about this. This issue involving Douglas Rochestown Educate Together National School and the school transport system is unique. I had never come across it before. The rule states that in order to be eligible for the scheme, pupils must live more than 3.2 km from the school via a traversable route. The Department and Bus Éireann reverted with a diagram showing a traversable route that is not accessible by foot, bike or car in any legal or safe manner. It requires cars to go out the wrong way onto a slip road leading to what will soon be a motorway but is currently a national primary road. It just cannot be done. The students cannot get there in under 5 km. That just cannot be done by any mode of transport, not just by car. I understand that in some emails to parents, the Department has suggested "traversable" does not need to be traversable in practice. It stated it had calculated that it was not required to take into account a one-way road system or whether the route is traversable by bus, and that the measurement was merely one of the shortest route available. If this is the policy, that is a bit daft, although I appreciate the Minister would not have formulated it. There is a minimum distance but it does not matter whether it can be travelled.